TiVo

We all know the digital video recorder (DVR) pioneered by TiVo — part VCR, part computer — which allowed people to find and record programs more easily than ever before. TiVo put its patented technologies into the marketplace, and also forged a number of partnerships with pay-television providers like Comcast and DirecTV. However, media giant EchoStar, owner of the Dish Network satellite service, chose not to collaborate with TiVo on its DVR, instead illegally infringing on TiVo's patented technology.

After losing in court, EchoStar appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the special patent appeals court one step away from the Supreme Court. TiVo tapped CLS Strategies to build a coalition of concerned entities, experts, nonprofits and other interest groups to voice their concern with the Court and the public. CLS Strategies successfully educated and galvanized many influential groups and individuals previously not engaged in the litigation, including intellectual property think tanks, academics, rural organizations and universities, who submitted amicus briefs to the Court in support of TiVo.

In addition, CLS Strategies created a steady drumbeat of media opportunities around the case, including op-eds, articles, blog posts and other commentary in outlets that resonate in the patent law community and with the judges deciding the case. Following a favorable decision by the Federal Circuit and eventual settlement of the EchoStar dispute, CLS Strategies was retained by TiVo to provide litigation support on a number of additional patent infringement cases.